Goodnight and Go
by Amalea
Summary: COMPLETE! Lilly has feelings for Jackson that she doesn't completely understand, but she knows he won't feel the same. Inspired by the song 'Goodnight and Go' by Imogen Heap.
1. Part One

**_Disclaimer: _**As you know, I do not own Hannah Montana or any related characters. Also, "Goodnight and Go" was written and performed by Imogen Heap. Haven't heard it? I demand you go give it a listen.

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**Goodnight and Go**

Written by: Amalea

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_"Why'd you have to be so cute?  
It's impossible to ignore you.  
Must you make me laugh so much?  
It's bad enough we get along so well..."_

Sixteen year-old Lilly Truscott had once again survived a disastrous encounter with her mother at home. As usual, she hardly even knew what the fight was about, all she knew was that she had to get out of her house immediately or risk a violent end to an ongoing war. As things usually went after a fight, she headed down to the beach, planning on calling her best friend Miley and ranting into the night. However, it was now an hour later, Lilly had cooled down, and Miley was nowhere to be found.

She had called numerous times but had yet to receive a response. Assuming it was some Hannah thing she just hadn't heard about, she decided to pick up dinner at Rico's while she waited. Slightly annoyed at the absence of her best friend, but mostly bored, she took a seat at one of the bar stools and began to build something that appeared to be a house of straws.

"Hey, those cost money, you know?" a distinct male voice said from in front of her.

Lilly glanced up and she felt the blood rush immediately to her face. "Yeah, I'm... really sorry about that. I just... yeah." she mumbled.

Miley's eighteen year-old brother, Jackson Stewart stood behind the bar looking down at her. "Whatever, it's not my loss" he said, shrugging, "can I get you anything?"

"Just a Sprite, thanks," Lilly said quickly, suddenly more nauseous than she was hungry.

"One Sprite, coming right up," Jackson said and walked away flashing her a quick smile.

Lilly pushed her blond hair back off of her face and groaned. She didn't understand what it was about Jackson that made her feel completely ridiculous every time she saw him. He was just Miley's older brother; they'd known each other for years. So what was the big deal? He was completely weird and goofy, and yet there was something about him that Lilly just couldn't get out of her head. Maybe it was there common sense of humor, or maybe it was their similar approach to making chocolate milk without cups. Whatever it was, it was there.

Looking down the bar, she saw Jackson chatting with another customer, one of his friends, while he filled up a glass with Sprite. His friend said something and laughed when Jackson's face began to turn lightly pink. Lilly watched curiously, wondering what had been said that made Jackson, who was basically incapable of embarrassment, blush. Then Jackson unexpectedly glanced in her direction, causing her to turn away quickly and pretend to be enthralled with something going on down the beach.

"Quit being so nosy," Lilly scolded herself internally and knowing she was still red, "he's going to think you're a freak, and that is most definitely not something you want."

"Here's your Sprite," Jackson said, and cleared his throat. Lilly turned around and he began to look at her appearing slightly concerned, "So, are you OK?"

"Yeah- why?" Lilly said urgently, wondering if her face was giving away all the thoughts about him she had hovering in her head. She knew she wasn't very good at covering up her feelings. She looked down into her Sprite attempting to avoid giving away anything else.

"You just seemed like something was bothering you when you got down here... want to talk about it?" he said nonchalantly, and then smiling, he added, "The Jacksonator can solve any problem."

Lilly laughed. "That's ok... Jacksonator. I was just trying to find your sister. Any ideas?"

"Not a clue. You know her, always off doing something. Like I'd try and keep track of her," Jackson replied, "You could always go wait at the house, if you want. I get off in a few minutes if you'd like an escort." Another goofy smile was attached to the end of this statement.

Lilly desperately wanted to scream "YES!" to his offer, but for some reason the wrong words came out, "Oh, that's OK. I actually planned on hanging out at the beach for a little while... maybe I'll come by later."

"Suit yourself," he said, "I'll see you around." With that, he was gone.

Lilly finished her Sprite, left some cash, and began to walk to the water, scolding herself the whole way there. "No? NO? What is WRONG with you?" her heart screamed. Lilly shook her head. Her heart and her brain, always at war with each other. Her heart knew she should just go with Jackson and tell him how she felt. However, her brain was a different story. Her brain recognized only the complete awkwardness a walk anywhere with Jackson would involve. There would be no sharing of feelings, only insecure silences. And being completely logical, why would an eighteen year-old boy who had had his share of relationships want anything to do with her, a completely inexperienced sixteen year-old girl? The same girl who had been best friends with his _younger_ sister for years. The same girl who had embarrassed herself numerous times in front of him. "Oh no," her brain decided firmly, "there is no way I'm going through that embarrassment. That... rejection."

Lilly fell onto the sand and stared back at Rico's. Jackson was cleaning up the shop and preparing for close before he headed home for the night. Lilly turned her head back out to the dark abyss of ocean. A sigh escaped her lips. Shortly after, she noticed the lights flick out at Rico's, then Jackson start his trek down the beach toward the Stewart house.

"Go. Lilly Truscott, you get up right now. Catch up with him, say you changed your mind," her heart demanded, invading her thoughts once again.

"Oh no you don't. You sit right here, you'll wait until he's out of sight. Then maybe I'll consider letting you stand up," her brain said, and considering her brain had slightly more influence over the movement of her legs than her heart did, obviously her brain won.

Lilly watched as Jackson slipped on a pair of headphones and began to bust out a few signature moves. She couldn't help smiling to herself as he faded away down the beach.

Then, abruptly, she stood. "This is stupid," she said to herself. "I'm not going to sit out here in the cold just because I'm afraid of talking to some boy. It's Jackson for crying out loud. I can handle this. I can."

Lilly slowly began walking on the same trail Jackson had just disappeared from. Taking deep, steady breaths she tried to convince herself she wasn't as lame as she believed. The walk to the Stewarts took slightly longer than expected, as she stopped numerous times considering heading back. After about fifteen minutes of internal conflict she arrived at the back of the house.

The curtains were pulled back and through the window she could see Jackson already reclining on the sofa flipping through the TV stations. Pausing, Lilly took in one last deep breath and moved for the door.

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**A/N: **Ah, well, that was my first HM fanfic attempt... so I hope it wasn't too awful. Please review with comments, criticism, and concern. The sharing of any grammar/spelling errors you catch would be much appreciated. Thanks!! I'm already working on chapter 2. I know where the whole things going... it was supposed to be a one-shot entry... but it got a little long.


	2. Part Two

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Two

Written by: Amalea

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Lilly hesitantly approached the door and after taking one last deep breath she raised her hand to knock. The three, quick taps on the door caused Jackson to jump up immediately. Looking alarmed as he stared at the window, he tried to make out the figure in the dark.

After realizing it was Lilly, he relaxed and moved to open the door.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just kind of changed my mind. It was cold... I decided the beach wasn't really a great place to hang out at night, and since you had offered I decided to come here. If it's not OK anymore, I can leave. Yeah, it was stupid of me to come. I'll just go home, tell Miley I came by. I'm really, rea-" Lilly blurted out apologetically before a hand clasped over her mouth.

"Lilly. Stop," Jackson said and removed his hand, "You practically live here anyway; it's not a problem. What's your deal?"

At that he walked to the kitchen to get something to drink. "Want anything?" he called back to Lilly who was still standing by the door, her face hot where Jackson had touched it.

"Uh, what do you have?" she asked and walked to the couch where she sat, feeling more and more awkward by the second, as close to the end as possible.

"Pretty much anything as far as drinks go," Jackson said as he searched through the fridge, "We have some brownies as well. They're really good. Interested?"

Lilly, whose mind was quite involved with other thoughts, had not fully heard what Jackson had said. "Interested?" she choked out, "Interested in what?"

"Brownies, seriously, earth to Lilly? You've been out of it today. Are you sure you're all right? I mean, not that you're completely normal any other time."

"Ha. Yeah, and you are," Lilly responded, trying to act normally. "But yes, I'd like a brownie," she added, "and water."

Jackson walked back from the kitchen carrying two bottles of water and a plate holding five brownies.

"Five?" Lilly questioned.

"That's right. Four for me, one for you." Jackson said with a grin.

Lilly, slightly more comfortable now, grabbed a brownie and repositioned herself more comfortably on the couch. Jackson took a seat next to her and glanced down at his watch.

"9 o'clock. Miley probably won't be home for a while. You know those parties she goes to... There's a horror movie marathon on," Jackson made a small motion to the TV, "Wanna watch?"

Without much thought, Lilly nodded, and finished off the brownie she held in her hand. Lilly was indifferent to the watching of horror movies, though she was easily scared, they still entertained her. "Those brownies are amazing."

"Thanks. I made them last night," Jackson stated proudly, before another signature grin broke out on his face, noting a trail of chocolate crumbs near her mouth he added, "I guess you look good in everything you eat?"

Lilly felt her entire body burn with embarrassment as she quickly wiped her mouth. "Thanks," she said briefly, and then leaned back on the sofa willing herself to disappear as the movie began.

"No problem," Jackson said happily, also relaxing into the sofa to enjoy the film.

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_Darkness poured over the scene as the female victim ran through the deserted streets, knowing she faced grave danger. She turned quickly into an alley and hid silently behind a dumpster. Her breathing calmed slightly, but the somber music intensified coming to a crescendo when suddenly a disfigured male jumped out wielding a glimmering silver blade._

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Lilly shrieked with surprise and found herself with her face buried in Jackson's shoulder, unable to watch the rest of the gruesome scene. Jackson chuckled to himself and Lilly groaned. "Is it over?" she questioned in a muffled voice.

"Yeah," Jackson said, now laughing, "Come on, it was not that scary."

"Sure, maybe not for you!" Lilly responded heatedly.

"Oh, calm down, it's just a movie," Jackson said soothingly and patted her head lightly, "There, there little Lilly, it'll be alright."

Lilly, who although totally freaked out by the movie, felt utter content at being so close to Jackson and would have enjoyed staying just as she was for the duration of the night, now once again wished she could disappear. _"Little Lilly?" _she thought to herself, _"So, he does still see me as his little sister's silly little friend." _Little was exactly how she felt.

In the distance there was a faint ringing.

"That's my cell phone, I must have left it in my room. Back in a minute," he said and took off up the stairs.

After he was gone, Lilly fell into the couch and felt like crying. "I have to get out of here," she muttered to herself. Not wanting to deal with Jackson again, she decided to leave him a note.

Pulling out a small notebook from her purse, she quickly scribbled:

_**"Jackson,**_

_**Why can't you see it? Why don't you understand? We'd be good-"**_

She paused a minute and scratched out the last part. Continuing, she wrote:

_**"We'd be GREAT together.**_

_**Love,**_

_**Lilly."**_

Feeling absolutely foolish by the absurdity of it all, she quickly tore out the page crumpled it up and threw it into her purse.

She began a new note:

_**"Jackson,**_

_**had to get home. sorry to rush out.**_

_**tell Miley to call me.**_

_**-Lilly"**_

Leaving the note on the table, she got up and hurried out the back door as quietly as she could.

As she walked the short distance home, she was quite unaware that a small, crumpled piece of paper she believed was in her purse lay at the foot of the Stewart's couch. Of course, her ignorance to the situation at hand may have been a good thing. Had she known that her deepest, most secret feelings were lying crumpled up on the Stewart's living room floor, the only logical options for any teenage girl in her predicament would've been to move or commit suicide. Either way, it wouldn't be good.

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**A/N: **Dun dun dun. What will happen next? Find out in the next installment offfff...

haha, so how was that? OK? Good? Awful? Did it make you want to burn your eyes out? I kid. I mean, hopefully it didn't. PS: I don't condone suicide, that was just a little humor there at the end, which hopefully everyone caught. And I apologize profusely for the horror movie scene. I am not a horror writer; therefore, if it was absolutely horrible, I cannot be blamed. P Thanks for the reviews thus far!! I truly appreciate it. Keep up the good work. Part Three will be on its way in the near future.


	3. Part Three

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Three

Written by: Amalea

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Lilly awoke on her living room couch the next morning. Upon arriving at home the previous night she had thrown her purse onto the coffee table, simply collapsed on the couch, and fallen asleep, too exhausted with thought to stay awake any longer.

"Lilly! Do you have your keys? I have an important meeting in thirty minutes and I can't find mine," Mrs. Truscott yelled to her daughter from the kitchen.

Lilly grumbled something quite unkind and rolled over, covering her head with a pillow.

"Lillian Marie Truscott! You wake up this instant," her mother demanded, now in the living room, pulling the pillow from her daughter's head.

"They're in my purse!" she grumbled and snatched back the pillow.

Then, realizing something, she became wide-awake. "My purse!" she shrieked, snatching it from the table. "_The note," _she thought to herself. Quickly she found her keys and handed them to her mom, who was looking at her incredulously. "Heh, um, weird dream?" Lilly assisted, plastering on a fake smile.

Her mother straightened her suit jacket and made no comment. "I'll be back around noon," she said, and headed for her car.

As soon as her mom was gone the smile fell from Lilly's face and she violently poured the contents of her purse out on the table.

"No. No, no, no." she repeated over and over, looking through every bit of paper, trash, makeup, and various other items kept in her purse. A slightly crazy laughed escaped her mouth, "This is just a dream. See, I'm still asleep. In fact... last night was a dream too. I never even wrote a note. I'm just going to lay back down, and when I wake up everything is going to be perfect."

Lilly threw herself back onto the couch and squeezed her eyes as shut as possible. Less than five seconds later, her phone rang. Panicking, she sat back up and grabbed her cell from the mess on the table.

"Hello?" she whimpered.

"Lilly? What's up? It's Miley," an accented voice on the other end said, "Jackson told me you were here looking for me last night."

So much for the past 24 hours being a dream. Lilly closed her eyes again and let out a sigh.

"Uh, is there something you need to tell me?" Miley questioned.

"Tell you? Tell you what? Why would I have anything to tell you? What makes you think that?" Lilly blurted out, convinced Miley had found the note.

"Maybe you should lay off the caffienne," Miley advised, completely confused, "You came to my house last night, I assume there was a reason for it? Uh, should I just call you back later? You seem kind of stressed."

"Yeah, call me... actually, no! Don't! I'm coming over. See you in a few!"

Lilly hung up the phone before Miley even had a chance to reply. Completely forgetting she was still in the same clothes from last night, she grabbed her skateboard and headed out the door.

When she arrived at the Stewart house Miley was waiting for her at the door.

"You don't look so good," Miley commented, noting Lilly's wrinkled clothes and messy hair.

"Yeah, uh- cough- I think I might be getting something?" Lilly said and her eyes frantically began searching the floor of the Stewart living room.

"Looking for something?" Miley asked and Lilly's eyes fell upon Miley's face, which carried an expression she couldn't quite read.

"No, uh... I don't know," Lilly said and quickly changed the subject, "So, where'd you go last night anyway?"

"Oh, there was this great party downtown. Kind of short notice, and you had been talking about how all the parties were wearing you out, so I figured you wouldn't be interested," Miley said apologetically, prepared for Lilly to take offense at not being invited.

"Yeah, I understand. No problem," Lilly said absently, still trying to scan the room for the note.

"Look Lilly, I know keeping something from me. Now just tell me," Miley said, becoming slightly annoyed by her friend's erratic behavior.

"I'm not keeping anything from you, I swear."

Praying that Miley hadn't been the one to find the note, Lilly tried frantically to think of an excuse to leave.

A frustrated Miley took care of it for her, "Look, I have stuff to do. Just call me whenever you want to actually talk." Miley headed for her room and Lilly headed for the door.

"_She couldn't have found the note, Jackson definitely would have found it first... oh my God, what if he _did _find it first? No, he's not that observant, he never would've seen it. That means Miley found it... oh my God! What if Mr. Stewart found it? Oh man, could this get any worse? Someone in that house has the note. How in the world am I supposed to find out who?" _Lilly frantically thought.

Just as she was walking out the back door, Jackson stepped out of his car.

"Hey, Lilly, about last night-" he began upon catching her eye, but was cut off.

"Sorry Jackson! Can't talk, gotta go!" she said hurriedly and hopped on her skateboard. She tore off down the driveway, leaving Jackson standing there completely confused with his mouth hanging open.

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**A/N: **Hmm... who has the note? I know. Do you know? haha. Actually, I think I may have changed my mind about who has it. What do you think? This was basically a filler chapter leading on to bigger, better things. Considering I originally planned on ending it after what became "Part 2" this is interesting. I really felt the need to keep going though, so hopefully I don't destroy my original intentions. Please review if you took the time to read. It will only take a couple seconds and it will make me unbelievably happy. Not to mention inspired to write more. Thanks to all of my reviewers so far. I truly, truly appreciate you.


	4. Part Four

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Four

Written by: Amalea

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"_My life as I know it... is over." _Lilly thought to herself as she stood at the edge of the water, watching as the waves moved it in and out. She had removed her shoes and was standing barefoot, feeling the cool water run over her feet. Now kicking at the water as it rose to her, she attempted to formulate a plan.

"_Alright, so all I need are some super mind reading powers, and this will be a piece of cake. Hmm... OK, maybe I can see where that won't work out so well. Perhaps a spy... ooh, a _Russian_ spy. Even better. Now... ok yeah, you're on a roll Lilly. Maybe if you were in an alternate universe these incredibly intelligent plans of yours would work out. Lilly Truscott: the Mind Reading Russian Spy. I like it."_

Obviously, the planning was not going so well, and Lilly, lost in thought, continued kicking around at the edge of the water. Lilly was caught up in an extensive scenario in which her spy alter ego was fighting off the enemy when a voice yelled her name.

"Lilly!"

Losing all coordination, Lilly fell to the sand, successfully soaking the entire lower portion of her body.

Walking toward her was none other that Jackson Stewart.

"Way to stick the landing," he commented as he came upon her, still sitting in the wet sand. He offered a hand to help her up and she grudgingly accepted.

"What in the world are you doing here?" she asked, terrified that his answer would involve a certain note she may have written.

"I had something that I think belonged to you... but you kind of took off back there? Anyway, I noticed you weren't headed home, so I guess I followed you?"

"Stalker," Lilly muttered under her breath, half-jokingly.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said innocently. "So, you just wanted to talk? About anything important? I'm, uh, kind of busy now..."

"Yeah, you looked pretty busy," he said sarcastically, "were those real ninja moves you were doing there?"

"For your information, I was being a spy, not a ninja." The words slipped out before Lilly could stop them.

Jackson laughed heartily, "Oh, my mistake."

Lilly tried to maintain a glare in the face of his mockery, but the way Jackson's entire face lit up when he laughed made her weak inside. "_Curse you stupid, girly crush."_

Lilly sighed as a smile played at the corner of her lips, "So what was it you wanted then?" Prepared for the worst, she braced herself for an answer. He had obviously found the note. 'I had something that I think belonged to you.'

_"Uh, duh, Lilly, like there's even anything else he could possibly be talking about."_

"Well, this is yours, right?" he asked, holding out something in his hand. Lilly peered over at it, expectant, as she prepared in her head elaborate lies about someone forging her handwriting and leaving the note as a joke. "Your lucky bracelet, is it not?"

Lilly laughed.

"Yes, yes it is. Why thank you Jackson. How considerate of you to bring this all the way down here for me," she said, completely amused and happily surprised. On the inside her mind exploded with happiness, "_Oh lucky bracelet. Lucky, lucky bracelet. Maybe you're luckier than I thought! Jackson doesn't have the note!"_

Jackson smiled, "Well, I knew it was important to you. The last time you lost it I remember you panicking for a solid week." It looked like there was still something else he wanted to add, but Lilly didn't notice, she was too consumed with her internal celebration.

"I'll see you later then, Lilly," he said, then as an afterthought added, "and you might want to think about mixing up the wardrobe a little bit."

Lilly's mouth opened. "_He actually noticed that I was wearing the same thing as yesterday? Are boys even capable of that level of observation? This boy especially... he wouldn't notice he was walking barefoot through glass unless someone told him."_

Jackson caught Lilly's surprise at his observation. "You know, Lil, I'm not as oblivious to things as you think."

That bright, shining glimmer of happiness dropped from her immediately as Jackson walked away, and her brain was sent reeling.

"_Why would he-" _Lilly stopped mid-question, "_Don't you dare answer that, brain."_

_"But I must! OBVIOUSLY he has the note. What are you dense? What else would make him say that?" _her brain replied, seeing the completely logical where Lilly was trying not to.

"_Something else? ANYTHING else."_ Lilly responded, more pleading than asserting.

"_Wrong, my dear. You know Jackson isn't that observant. You thought it yourself just a minute ago. The thing about walking through glass? Yeah. It's true and you know it. He must have the note. That was his way of hinting that he _does_ get it and he _does _understand."_

At that thought Lilly just became increasingly depressed. "_But if he did get the note... and he does understand... that just means he doesn't feel the same way."_

Lilly sat back down in the sand and felt her eyes brimming with tears. She had known this would happen, and however unintentional it had been, she'd been the one to set herself up for it. She pulled her legs to her chest and put her head down. What she needed was someone to talk to, and the only person she could ever talk to about boy issues was her best friend. But somehow, she didn't think it would be appropriate. Jackson was her brother after all. Would she really be interested in hearing this?

Wiping the tears from her face she made her decision. Miley may be Jackson's sister, but she was still Lilly's best friend and she'd want to know about her feelings and she'd definitely care if Lilly was this upset about him.

Not wanting to go back to the Stewart house she called Miley's phone. On the third ring, she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Miles? This is Lilly, I'm sorry about earlier, but I really need someone to talk to. Would you mind meeting me down at the beach? I mean, if you aren't busy or anything," Lilly said in a strained voice. She was tired and hungry, having not eaten since the previous night, and to add to it she was now feeling quite heartbroken.

"Yeah, Lilly. I'll be there in just a minute, and I'm never too busy for my best friend. You know that," Miley said half-forgiving, half-apologizing for her own anger that morning.

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Shortly thereafter, Miley was sitting in the sand at her best friend's side. Lilly had spilled the entire story to her. From first realizing she liked Jackson, to the night before, to the stupid note she'd written and forgotten.

"So, what you're telling me here... is you like my brother?" Miley asked for the second time. Lilly nodded her head, feeling slightly embarrassed but more relieved. She never realized how much keeping this from Miley was affecting her.

"My brother? Jackson? Average height, dark blond hair? Really goofy? That one? You're sure?" Miley asked again.

Lilly laughed and pushed Miley's shoulder, "Yessss, make me feel more ridiculous, please?"

"I'm kidding," Miley smiled, "I just can't believe you never told me! Although... I always did kind of get this vibe from you."

"Oh sure, now you're going to claim you knew."

"No, I'm just saying. Now that I look back... I should've picked up on it."

Lilly sighed, "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. He obviously doesn't think of me in _that_ way. I'm still just his little sister's dorky friend."

"Oh Lilly! You don't know that, right? You're just speculating. Maybe he didn't even find the note!" Miley said, hopefully.

"He had to have found it," Lilly stated bluntly, "Why would he have made that comment otherwise?"

Miley just shrugged, "I don't know, but I promise you one thing: I will get to the bottom of this. Then when you and Jackson get married and we're sisters-in-law, you can thank me." A huge smile spread across Miley's face and her eyes twinkled.

Lilly rolled her eyes and groaned, "Oh Miley, don't do anything crazy."

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**A/N: **I wrote that kind of fast, and am a little concerned about it. Let me know if there are any mistakes or things that completely don't flow. I wanted to make this longer, because it's the last day I'll be able to update until next week most likely. With work, school, and exams... my time is becoming quite limited, but I really want to write more on this, so I'll try and squeeze in writing wherever I can. Now everyone should review and make me extremely happy. _Seriously, I live for reviews, even the smallest acknowledgments. _PS: **argentinipinkini, **you don't know how tempted I was to write the Lilly/Robby heart-to-heart... that was one of my ideas when I outlined, but I ended up deciding against it. Many thanks to my readers, and additional thanks to my reviewers.


	5. Part Five

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Five

Written by: Amalea

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"_What is she doing in there?_" Lilly wondered as she sat at the table on the Stewart's back porch the next day.

As usual, with his amazing ability to show up just when Lilly was alone and preferring not to see him, Jackson showed up on the porch behind her.

"Hello hello," Jackson said, walking around the table, "Here again with no Miley?"

"No, she's actually here... she said she had to go get something," Lilly responded, peering through the window into the house and willing Miley to return.

Jackson didn't nod and walk inside at this information as Lilly expected; rather, he took the seat across from her at the table, his back facing the door.

Lilly's body tensed and her stomach tightened. She wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry. Mostly, she wanted to throw up. She hated this feeling, and she understood perfectly what it was. It happened every time she saw him, every time she thought about him, and she knew it would only go away after Jackson did, when she could try and focus on something else other than the fact that he was sitting there across from her.

Jackson stared inquisitively at Lilly for a few moments.

Lilly noticed. "What?" she questioned.

"You're not normal, Lilly Truscott," Jackson said simply, a smirk lingering at his mouth.

"Um, thanks," Lilly said, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"No, I just mean you're different. Not bad, just different," he said, then stood up, smiled, and walked inside.

"What the hell was that?" Lilly muttered to herself, extremely confused by the event that had just occurred. Miley walked out the door just seconds later.

"Sooo, saw you talking to Jackson," Miley said, smiling, "What about? Did you spill the beans? You guys dating yet?"

"I don't know, and no, I didn't, and no, we aren't?" Lilly said.

"Well what did he want, than, if not to confess his undying love for you?" Miley said, visibly upset that nothing exciting had happened in her absence.

"Oh, apparently he just wanted to let me know I was weird," she said, with casual sarcasm.

"Is that what he said?!" Miley yelled, looking ready to go beat up her brother, "I swear, you give me five minutes with him..."

Lilly laughed at Miley's concern for her. "No, it wasn't like that. I don't know what it was... he just said I was _different_, but not in a bad way?"

"What?"

"I don't know, he's your brother."

"My weird brother," Miley added, "What's with that kid? He likes you, I know it. And I did promise I'd get to the bottom of this, which I will. I'm just going to need a little more time."

"What's your plan?" Lilly asked, quite interested, and also a little scared of what might be going on in her friend's head.

"Oh, I can't tell you, that would ruin all the fun, but I _am_ going to find out for sure if he likes you and you _will _live happily ever after. Those are facts."

"Miley, there's no way Jackson is going to tell you he likes me. Even if he did like me, what would possibly make him tell you?"

"Lilly, I'm his sweet, angelic little sister, why would he want to keep anything from me?" Miley said with an innocent smile.

"I have a really bad feeling letting you get involved is just going to make everything worse," Lilly responded.

"Not a chance. How could I possibly mess anything up? Unless you're going to march into that house right now and tell him how you feel, I'm going to have to continue with my plan," Miley stated.

"Not a chance."

"That's what I thought. No worries Lilly, my best bud. It's going to be easy, I'm going to find out what we want to know, then, as I've said, you two are going to live happily ever after."

"Unless of course you find out what I really don't want confirmed. You know, that Jackson hates me, thinks I'm his sister's weird, nerdy friend, all that stuff." Lilly said, flatly.

"But that won't be what I find out. He likes you. I know it, I just have to make sure the two of you know it. I mean, he probably already knows, but you obviously won't believe me without proof. So we'll just have to work on that."

The look on Miley's face gave away that she was already lost in plans and calculations, so Lilly gave up trying to convince her friend not to meddle. Her fate was sealed, Jackson was going to find out she liked him, if he hadn't already found the note, and once he did, she was going to have to deal with inevitable rejection.

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**A/N: **Oh, that was awful. So short, not even 1000 words, but I HAD to get something out here. The next chapter will be longer I swear. I'm just so busy, exams are over but I've been working non-stop, and I felt awful making you guys wait so long. Thanks to all my new reviewers and subscribers, as well as my old. The next update will be much faster than this was.


	6. Part Six

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Six

Written by: Amalea

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The next afternoon Lilly and Miley sat talking in the Stewart's kitchen.

"I promise he's in love with you."

"I promise you're brain damaged. We're just friends, that's all."

"Friends, right. That's why he constantly talks about you when you aren't around?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just a really interesting topic of conversation."

Lilly laughed. "I'm going to get my stuff from your room so we can go." She took off for the stairs, turning back one last time to say "Oliver is in love with you Miley Stewart! L-O-V-E. Love!" Miley groaned and Lilly laughed again, taking off up the stairs.

"Umph!" Lilly said suddenly hitting something quite solid and losing her balance as she slipped backwards.

"Careful," someone said, grabbing her arm.

Lilly's stomach tensed once again and upon regaining her composure she looked up into Jackson's blue eyes. (A/N: let me know if they're not blue, I couldn't really tell in the pictures)

"Sorry about that," she said with a tight smile.

"No problem," Jackson replied, and continued down the stairs, dressed in some cargo shorts and a Rico's shirt.

Lilly quickly went upstairs, grabbed her purse and started back to the kitchen. She was halfway down the stairs when suddenly she heard, "So do you like Lilly or what?" Instantly, her knees gave out and she sank down onto the step she was on.

Sirens blared in her head, "_WHAT IS SHE DOING?!"_

She heard a choke then coughing from who she assumed was Jackson, "What?"

"Lilly, you know, my blond friend? Do you like her?" Miley's voice carried to where Lilly sat on the steps.

"Um, did someone hit you in the head, Miles?" Jackson responded and Lilly heard the shuffling of papers followed by the jingling of keys.

"That's not answering my question, Jackson." Miley said.

"Stop it Miley," Jackson said in a quiet voice, "I'm going to work."

Lilly waited until she heard the door close, stood back up, and ran down the stairs.

"Oh my God, is there something WRONG with you?!" Lilly snapped in a panic, "Why would you just ASK him like that? While I'm here, too. Oh my God, he probably thinks I made you ask him."

"Lilly, calm down." Miley said.

"Calm down?! You seriously want me to calm down. Jackson was right, someone must've hit you in the head. How was that possibly a good idea in any way at all?"

"Lilly, calm down," Miley repeated, now smiling.

"You're smiling?! Why are you smiling? Do you realize how close you are to death right now?" Lilly said, eyes wide, arms crossed, mind still working at five thousand miles per hour.

"Yes, I'm smiling. My plan worked exactly how I wanted it to," Miley said matter-of-factly.

"Plan? How was that in any way, shape, or form a plan? Don't plans involve some sort of subtlety?" Lilly questioned, trying to take deeper breaths now and calm herself down.

"Well, I found out what we wanted to know, didn't I?" Miley asked, now taking a seat.

"Um, no. As I recall, you didn't find out anything. Jackson just thinks we're both nuts."

"See, that's just what you _heard_."

Lilly sighed, shook her head, and resigned. She had no idea what her friend was talking about at all, she had no idea why Miley was so calm and collected right now after what she just did, and she had no idea how Miley could have possibly gotten any answer from the responses she had heard.

"So what? Please Miley, enlighten me. I can't even begin to understand what's going on in your head," Lilly said and also took a seat.

"OK Lilly. You were sitting on the stairs, you heard everything that went on, as I suspected you would," Miley began. Picking up a glass of water, she slowly took a sip.

"Miley, don't make me hurt you. Keep talking."

Miley smiled again. "Well, while you were hiding on the stairs, hearing everything, you couldn't actually SEE anything that happened."

Lilly was still completely lost, "Yeah, I couldn't see anything. So? What, was he holding up a sign that said, 'Yes I like Lilly!' or what?"

"Close enough."

"He had a sign?" Lilly said, surprised.

"No, stupid."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean he might as well have been holding up a sign, that boy couldn't be any easier to read," Miley said, "See, if Jackson didn't like you, he would've simply denied it. Did he deny it?"

Miley stopped, actually waiting for Lilly's response.

"No?" Lilly said, still not fully understanding her friend's logic.

"Right, but it's not just that he didn't deny it. What you couldn't see while you were hiding on the stairs was how absolutely distressed he got when I asked him. You missed how red his face was with embarrassment, probably at the fact that you could be overhearing anything that was being said... What you didn't see was how flustered he got when he was looking for his keys. What you didn't see was how... totally, absolutely, completely, utterly IN LOVE with you my brother is."

She finished with a satisfied smile.

Lilly just sat there, taking in what Miley had just said, absolutely speechless.

"Thank me?" Miley suggested, now giggling at her friend's silence.

"Oh Miley, are you serious?" Lilly asked, still feeling pretty hesitant about believing anything that had just been said.

"Lilly, he's my brother. I know him. Please just trust me? He likes you," Miley said.

Lilly sighed, "Wow."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"What am I going to do? Are you serious? I can't do anything. What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, you're going to tell him you like him, right?" Miley asked, as if it was the obvious thing to do.

"Tell him? I can't just tell him."

"Well, you kind of already did. I mean... the note, right? He has to have it."

"Not necessarily?" Lilly said, hopeful.

"Then why don't we find out? He's at work, he won't be home for hours. Let's search his room."

"Why would he have kept it?"

"Well, we decided he likes you. If someone you liked wrote you a note confessing their love to you, wouldn't you keep it?" Miley once again stated this as an obvious fact. Lilly was beginning to feel a little slow.

"Right."

They both walked upstairs to Jackson's room. Miley swung open the door and stepped in, scanning the room for scraps of paper. Lilly hesitated in the doorway.

"Are you sure this isn't an invasion of privacy?" Lilly questioned, sounding nervous.

"Ha. Like he's never snuck around in _my _room." Miley grabbed Lilly by the arm and pulled her in, "Come on. I'm not going to find it by myself."

"Where are we supposed to look?" Lilly asked, "It could be anywhere."

"Um, let's check under his mattress. That's where most people hide stuff." Miley suggested. So, both Miley and Lilly lifted the mattress.

Spotting a notebook, Miley quickly snatched it up. "Well, look at that. The Jacksonator keeps a diary." A sly smile spread across Miley's face.

"Oh no," Lilly said snatching the notebook from Miley, "I draw the line there. We are not going to read Jackson's private thoughts."

"Oh come onnnn, Lilly," Miley said, pleadingly as she grabbed back the notebook, "If we just look in here we could find out anything and everything you want to know about how Jackson feels."

"No Miley, I don't want to do that. How would you feel if someone read your private thoughts?" Lilly said, squashing down the tiny urge that was growing inside her to read the journal.

Lilly reached to grab the journal back from Miley, but she kept a tight hold on it. After a minute of pulling Miley said, "Fine." and let go.

Lilly lost hold of the book and it fluttered to the ground, a small piece of paper falling out and landing next to it.

A small gasp escaped Lilly's lips.

"Well, there's your answer." Miley said, and looked at her friend expectantly.

Lilly didn't say anything. She bent down to pick up the journal, slipped the note inside the front cover, and tucked it back under the mattress.

She looked at Miley, and couldn't help but smile, "He kept my note."

Miley smiled and even bigger smile, "Told you so."

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**A/N: **Well, that was longer (longest chapter yet!), so I hope you guys were satisfied. The note holder has been revealed, along with other things. Please review now? Thanks to all the new subscribers, and those 5 or 6 people who always review. I'd love to hear the rest of your thoughts. I'd like to say I won't update until I get at least 10 reviews... but I can't say if that's true. I'd really like to see 10 reviews on this chapter, but it wouldn't be fair for me to stop updating until it happens. Le sigh. haha, just review ok?


	7. Part Seven

**A/N: **I'm so, so, so, so, so, so sorry. I haven't updated in over a week, and I even got THIRTEEN reviews on the last chapter. You guys are amazing, I suck. It's just with Christmas and work I have had zero time. So here's something a little more lengthy. Hopefully you enjoy.

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Seven

Written by: Amalea

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After putting everything back in its place, they went to Miley's room to talk.

"So tell me, Lilly!" Miley said in an excited tone, "What are you going to do?"

"I can't do anything!" Lilly exclaimed.

"Well, why not?"

"I'm not asking your brother out," Lilly said simply, and crossed her arms.

Miley slapped Lilly's arm, "Oh come on! You can't ask a guy out?"

"No..." Lilly turned slightly pink.

"Well if you seriously expect my brother to ask you out, you might want to think again."

Lilly looked up alarmed, "Why wouldn't he ask me out?"

"Because he's Jackson, and he's stupid." Miley said, "He's probably all freaked out about you being my best friend or whatever. And... I don't know if you've noticed this, but Jackson's not so smooth with the ladies."

"But he's had like a thousand girlfriends!"

"Did he tell you that?" Miley asked.

"Not exactly... but he's always going out on dates and stuff, right?" Lilly said, a little confused.

"I'm sure he's been on plenty of dates," Miley said, "but I can't recall any time he's actually had a girlfriend."

"Seriously?"

"Well... yeah. He's never actually been serious with any girls," Miley laughed, "He can't seem to actually get past a first date."

"No way."

"Don't tell him I told you that," Miley said, still laughing, "He'd kill me. I can't believe he made you think he was such a... a player."

Lilly smiled, "Not even _one _second date?"

"Well, there may have been like one."

"Poor Jackson," Lilly said, and now giggled.

"Poor Jackson? Poor you!" Miley said. "When was the last time you had a boyfriend, miss?"

Lilly's mouth fell open.

"I'm kidding," Miley said quickly. "I'm just saying, you guys would be _perfect_ for each other."

Lilly smiled again, "We should've read his journal."

Miley mockingly gasped, "But that would've been a total invasion of privacy!"

"I know," Lilly groaned, "I'm a horrible person."

"Let's do it," Miley said, her eyes glimmering.

"Go back in there?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah."

"But what if he comes home?"

Miley shook her head, "No way, he hasn't been at work very long yet."

Lilly took a deep breath. "OK, let's do it."

Miley clapped her hands together, "Yay!"

They both stood up immediately and walked back down the hallway to Jackson's room. After removing the notebook from under the mattress once again, they flipped it open.

Miley began reading the first page aloud, "_I can't believe I'm doing this. Keeping a diary is something that for the most part…_"

"Boring!" Lilly called, "Skip ahead, find something about me!"

Miley laughed and began skimming pages. "Where should I look?"

"I don't know, go to the day when we hung out over here while you were gone. See what he said about my note."

"Alright, alright. Remember the date?" Miley asked.

"I don't know, it wasn't that long ago, skip back from the end."

Miley nodded and fidgeted around with the journal for another second. "Aha!" she exclaimed, tapping a page.

"Found it?" Lilly asked.

"Found it."

"Read it."

Miley began reading aloud once again:

"_I've mentioned her before. You know, the crazy blond? Cute, but weird. Cute… that doesn't even describe her. She's amazing, really. I can't even figure out what it is about her, but she captivates you, you know? I'll admit it, I've got a thing for her. But that can't get out, ever. There's one person who knows and that's how it's going to say. Alright, but get this. I'm working at Rico's tonight and out of nowhere she shows up. She sits down at the end of the bar, just hanging around, totally alone. So after a minute I go over there, ask if she wants a drink… whatever. She asks for a Sprite and I go back down to the other end to the tap to get one. Cooper's hanging out down there, so I'm talking to him while I get the drink. "You go put the hot moves on her?" he asks. Right there. She's like 2 feet away and he asks me this. Some friend. I don't think she heard him, I freaked out and glanced over at her, she was checking out something down the beach. So Coop keeps urging me to make my move, which I'm not even going to do, but I go back down there, she's looking pretty depressed. I ask what's up, she's looking for Miley, I know Miley's at some Hannah thing and won't be home until late. I seize the opportunity. So maybe I kind of lied, but this was the perfect chance, I'd get to hang out with her, sister-free. I offer her an escort to the house where she can wait._

_Too bad I got rejected."_

"Wow, that's hilarious." Miley said, stopping. She glanced at Lilly.

"I can't believe that!"

"What?"

"All of it, I mean, he LIKED me, Cooper knew, he LIED about where you were so he could hang out with me. Wow."

"Of course he lied. You," Miley finished in a dreamy voice, "_captivate him._"

Lilly slapped her friend on the arm, "Finish please. I'd like to get the rest of the information on that night _before_ he gets home and catches us!"

Miley stuck out her tongue and went back to reading.

"_So I get some lame excuse about her wanting to hang out at the beach and maybe she'll stop by later. Shot. Down. I didn't have a chance, of course. I'm Miley's weird older brother. Coop didn't let me live that one down either. Not until I shut down the store and told him to go home. I walked home, pretty bummed, I won't lie. But that didn't last long. I'd hardly been home 5 minutes and there's a knock at the door. Scared the hell out of me, but there she was; standing at my door. Then she just starts talking 500 words a minute, I've hardly understood one word she said. I physically have to stop her by putting my hand over her mouth and inviting her in. She calmed down a bit after that, I guess. Eventually we got down to watching a movie. Some horror film. Sitting there on the couch next to her, my arm barely touching hers… there was just something _right_ about that moment. Then she totally freaks out at this scene in the movies and she's all over me."_

"What?!" Miley exclaimed.

"Um, that's a lie. I may have grabbed him but in no way was I 'all over him'," Lilly said bluntly and looked over to read what Jackson had written. "OK, look, read the next sentence."

"_Alright, fine, maybe "all over me" is an exaggeration. But she's buried her face in my shoulder, and she's clutching my arm. What I really want to do is just hold her like that, but I don't. I choose the more masculine route, the more Jackson of choices. I make fun of her. I don't know what I said, Lilly can usually take a joke. But something just makes her tense up. Then my phone rings, and like an idiot I run to get it. Only to come back downstairs and find no one. She did leave a note, though. Saying something came up, she had to leave. So I'm sitting on the couch, cursing myself for being such a moron, when I notice something on the ground at the foot of the couch. A crumpled up piece of paper, nothing too interesting… but I knew it hadn't been there before. Being a curious person, I picked it up to see what it was, not expecting much, maybe like a receipt or something. Boy was I wrong. Lilly wrote me this note, see? I guess it was the first draft of the note I had just read. I've enclosed the note in here for safe keeping, it's just too amazing to trash. But am I supposed to tell her I found it? That would be an awkward conversation. This note I found… this brilliant, amazing, fantastic note, in which Lilly expresses her strong desire for us to be together. What am I supposed to do? She's my little sister's best friend. That is not a good position to be in. I know Miley would kill me if I tried anything with her. And I'm eighteen years-old. I just graduated from high school, she's going to be a junior. I'm going to be at college come fall, she's going to be here. How is that going to work out? I like the girl, but really, is all the drama I'll have to put up with worth it? The voice inside me is shouting 'yes'… but logically, I just don't know. Now I've got a headache. Tonight was a little too much to deal with. I've got Lilly intoxication. But what in the world am I supposed to do now?"_

The journal ended there. There were no more entries describing his plans for what would happen with Lilly. There was nothing.

"What a let down." Miley said.

"Well, I guess it gave us something?" Lilly suggested.

"What?" Miley asked, "That my brother's too much of a moron to realize he should ask you out?"

"There's that…" Lilly said and smiled, "But I also know just how amazing he thinks I am now."

"Oh, you've lost it," Miley said, "Now let's get out of here."

Lilly was smiling as Miley dragged her back to her room. "You're going to ask out my brother."

Lilly stopped smiling, "I can't!"

"Yes, you can. And you will. On my orders."

"There's no way. He'll come around eventually, right? Can't I just wait?" Lilly pleaded.

"Not a chance. We need to take matters into our own hands if you're ever going to be my sister-in-law."

"OK, seriously Miley, that's getting weird. Stop thinking so far ahead."

Miley smiled, "Oh come on, I _know _you've thought about it… _Mrs._ Jackson Stewart."

Lilly blushed, "No… ok, maybe… a couple of times…"

"Well then, let's make this dream a reality."

"I really hope you have another genius plan, Miley Stewart. I don't think I can take much more of this… or your meddling."

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**A/N**A little (or big, new longest chapter), filler-y thing. Kind of recapped what happened in chapters 1 and 2 from a Jackson perspective. A little girl talk with Miley and Lilly. Something to move my story a little more toward the climax. It'll probably wrap up shortly. And again, I apologize for the delay. You guys are the best! Thanks for the reviews, and keep it up please!


	8. Part Eight

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Eight

Written by: Amalea

_---------------------------------------------------------_

For the next week after Miley's little kitchen confrontation with him, Lilly hardly saw Jackson at all, unless of course she happened to catch him at Rico's where he couldn't run away, or occasionally for a brief moment at Miley's house when one of them was on their way out. She assumed he had gone with his logic and not his heart and decided not to ask her out. This hurt Lilly deeply, but at the same time she couldn't get up the nerve to just ask him out.

Miley was still no help either. She'd been mulling it over for the past week, intensely trying to come up with the perfect scenario in which Lilly could make her move. No divine inspiration had struck yet, but she felt she was getting close.

So it was Monday morning, and instead of being out at the beach or the movies or the mall where any other normal teenager would be hanging out during their summer vacation, Lilly Truscott was sitting at the Stewart's house once again, waiting for Miley to come up with an idea.

"This is really starting to get ridiculous, Miley." Lilly commented, her arms propped up on the table, resting her head in her hands. "I always knew you were determined, but seriously, don't you have your own life?"

"I do still have my own life," Miley snapped, "If you'd just stop being such a scaredy cat and ask out my brother I hardly think we'd be doing this right now."

Lilly's eyes widened, "Sor-ry, but this was your whole plan in the first place. I don't remember asking for you to do this."

"You need me."

"I think I could manage. We're not getting anywhere being in this stupid house all day anyway. Jackson hasn't talked to me in a week. Where's the progress? We could be going out and having fun, but we're not. Do you know how many beginning of summer parties we've missed?"

Miley didn't responded. With her back to Lilly, she was staring at the refrigerator.

"Earth to Miley?" Lilly said.

Still receiving no response, Lilly became a little concerned. "OK, OK, I didn't mean it? I _do _need you, it's not your fault Jackson hasn't talked to me, and I didn't really want to go to any of those parties anyway."

Still nothing.

"Mileyyyy," Lilly whined, "Please talk to me."

After walking over to the fridge and reading the calendar, Miley finally turned around to face Lilly.

Her eyes lit up she walked over and grabbed her friend's shoulders, "Lilly you're a genius!"

"Well, of course... but why?"

"A party. It's the perfect scenario. Not only that, but guess who just happens to be having a party tomorrow night?"

"Who?" Lilly questioned.

"Only my brother's best friend," Miley began. Lilly finished the statement for her.

"Cooper."

"Yes! And we have to go."

"But we weren't even invited Miley, we can't just show up at his house." Lilly said.

"That's the best part, it's going to be this huge beach party right by his house. A bunch of kids from the senior class are getting together to celebrate their final summer before high school."

Miley was now semi-pacing around the kitchen.

"There will be hundreds of kids there, no one would even notice if we went, and all you'll have to do is find Jackson and get him alone."

"That's all?" Lilly said, "Miley, you just said there would be hundreds of kids there."

"That's OK, I'll help you find him. Then you just need to get him to talk to you."

"But how am I going to do that?"

Miley's eyes glimmered once again, "Oh, I'll take care of that." The way Miley said that last sentence made Lilly slightly uncomfortable.

"All we'll need is a little trip into the Hannah Montana closet, some make-up, and a few hours of prep-time."

"Oh no Miley, not some crazy girly makeover. You know I can't handle that."

"But we have to! You're going to be so smoking at the party that Jackson will have no choice but to talk to you. Especially when he sees all the other hott guys that will be hitting on you." Miley said.

Lilly laughed, "Why would a bunch of older guys be hitting on me? Miley, I somehow doubt that you can actually work miracles."

"Oh, shut up Lilly. You're totally hott you know, you just never put enough effort into it to prove it."

"I happen to like the way I dress, thank you."

"I know, I know, but would it kill you to wear a skirt every now and then?" Miley suggested.

"Yes, it actually might."

"Well that's too bad, because you're going to wear a skirt tomorrow, and you're going to like it."

"That's not going to happen." Lilly said bluntly.

"You need to have some confidence, Lilly. How else will you win Jackson over? You need to go to that party with me, you need to look hott, but most importantly you need to believe you're hott. You need to walk in there like you own the place, stare them down, say to the world, "I'm Lilly Truscott, you got a problem?" Simple as that."

Lilly sighed, "Oh yeah, sounds simple."

"Well, trust me, it is. It's all just an act. I do it all the time as Hannah, and I _know_ you can act too. Lola never has a problem telling people what's what."

"I guess," Lilly said, and now that she was thinking about it, maybe it wouldn't be that hard. Of course, as Lilly she wouldn't have a crazy wig on to empower her.

"Please Lilly, just go to the party. Have any of my plans let you down yet? Again, you just need to trust me." Miley said, pleadingly.

"Alright, alright, but promise me if this doesn't work you'll just let it go?" Lilly said, resigned.

"Deal," Miley said happily, then as an afterthought added, "but it _will_ work."

_---------------------------------------------------------_

**A/N: **That was a little more filler; I promise there will be more action in the next chapter. There are probably only one or two more chapters of this left. I'm a little disappointed with the review count for part seven, but I'm going to blame that on the lack of working alerts, or am I the only one not receiving any alerts from Anyway, 10 reviews and you'll get another chapter by Friday night. Deal?

Also, if you like Lilly/Jackson, check out my other story, a oneshot piece entitled 'The Unexpected Love' and review with your thoughts. Then, see my favorite stories for more excellent works I've found by some other excellent authors.


	9. Part Nine

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Nine

Written by: Amalea

_---------------------------------------------------------_

"And don't forget to use this shampoo!" Miley said, shoving a bottle into Lilly's hand, "It'll give your hair more volume and make it easier for me to do something amazing with."

Lilly took the bottle and rolled her eyes, "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because you're in love with my dorky older brother, now go! No more silly questions." Miley said, now pushing Lilly toward her bathroom.

"I already took a shower this morning, I really don't see how this is at all necessary..." Lilly tried protesting again.

"So you'll be super clean. Now GET IN!" Miley shouted as she backed out and slammed the door. Seconds later Lilly heard her add, "Don't forget to shave your legs!"

Lilly switched on the water in the shower and put it somewhere between hot and warm.

"_I can't believe I let her talk me into another one of her plans. Though, I guess she has a point... she hasn't let me down yet." _Lilly thought to herself as she lathered on shampoo and rushed through the showering process. Her rush caused her to nick herself two times while shaving. She winced slightly each time then proceeded to get out of the shower, throw on a t-shirt and some shorts and go find Miley.

Her hair was wet and tangled and the water was seeping into her shirt as she walked back down the hall to Miley's room. Just as she was about to pass the staircase, Jackson turned around the corner, a bowl of macaroni in one hand, heading to his room.

"Don't you have a home?" Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow at Lilly's wet hair.

"Not really," Lilly said absently and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Alright then," Jackson said, "Carry on."

Lilly finished her walk to Miley's room, but could feel Jackson's eyes on her as she left.

"Ok Miley, let's get this over with," Lilly said sadly as she pushed her wet hair back off her face.

"Well, glad to see you've accepted your fate!" Miley said with a smile, "Oh, cheer up, it'll be fun."

"Mmhm."

So Miley began her work, starting with Lilly's outfit. She picked out a denim mini skirt, which received many complaints from Lilly, but she eventually resigned as she always did, pointing out that "it was fine, but she'd have to stand in one place all night because moving in that thing is hardly an option". The top Miley picked out was a hunter green spaghetti strap shirt with lace (including woven-in sequins) at the top and bottom, this received no complaints but rather a gag. After Lilly put on the clothes Miley had chosen, work commenced on her hair.

After slightly burning her a few times with the curling iron, Miley finally finished. Lilly's hair was a perfect mess of soft curls which fell down to her chest. Some intense make-up work was performed and Miley was done.

"Now look in the mirror," Miley instructed, happily satisfied with her work.

Lilly sighed, got up, and turned to Miley's full length mirror.

"Wow," she gasped upon seeing her reflection, "I... I..."

"Look gorgeous?!" Miley said and clapped her hands together.

"Look nothing like me," Lilly finished, fingering her hair slightly, "This is so un-me, Miley."

"Well, that's kind of the point I guess, you know, try out something new?" Miley said, a little hesitant at her friends reaction.

"I guess..." Lilly turned to face Miley, "So this is what's going to work, huh?"

"Yes! Well, that and the mingling with the hott graduates."

"Alright," Lilly stated and turned back to look at her reflection.

"I'm going to go see if Jackson's left for the party yet," Miley reported and left the room.

Lilly tugged at the skirt she was wearing and messed with her hair again. "I guess I look kind of good... in a weird, not at all looking like me way?" she said to herself.

A couple of minutes later Miley returned. "He's gone!"

"So what now?" Lilly asked.

"Well, it's too early to go right now, it's only 6... the party starts at 7, we'll probably go around 8. That way, there will be plenty of people there when we make our big entrance."

"We?" Lilly questioned her friend again.

"Well, yeah. I can't just leave you hanging OR miss out on talking to all those cute boys." Miley stated confidently, "Now, I'm going to get ready. You occupy yourself."

So for the next hour and a half Lilly sat on Miley's bed watching stupid dating reality shows on the television. When her mind was thoroughly turned to mush she shouted for Miley, "Mileyyyy! Come on. I'm bored and you're taking forever."

Miley walked back into the room, striking a few poses so Lilly could check out her outfit.

"Great!" Lilly said with mock enthusiasm, "Can we go now?"

"Sure! Let me just make sure I don't have to add any finishing touches to you," Miley said and made Lilly stand up so she could give her a once over.

Pulling back out her make-up bag she added a few touchups to Lilly's face then smiled.

"Perfect!"

Lilly nodded, "So we can leave now?"

"Yep, let's go," Miley said and both girls exited the room and headed for Cooper's party.

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Lilly let out an involuntary gasp when they arrived at the party. "This is amazing!" she said, grabbing Miley's arm, "The lights, the music... it's insane."

"Yeah," Miley agreed, "Talk about an end of school party."

There were hundreds of high school kids standing around, eating, talking, or dancing on the beach. A DJ had been hired and he was playing some rap song at the moment, providing excellent dance music for those who were interested.

"So what now?" Lilly whispered to Miley.

"That," Miley stated and pointed in the direction of two guys who were standing nearby talking and watching them.

Lilly took a deep breath and smiled, "Here it goes." Still holding Miley's arm she walked over to where the two guys were standing.

"Hey," she said briefly.

"Hey," the taller of the two guys responded, "I'm Daniel." Lilly had to admit it: Daniel was cute. She could tell by looking at him that he was a skater. His clothes, his shoes, his stance, they all gave him away. He had brown hair, shaggy but pushed out of his face and absolutely stunning green eyes. Yes, she was here for Jackson, but there wasn't any reason not to enjoy herself a little, right? And wasn't this Miley's point? Mingle with cute boys, make Jackson want her. Seemed like she was following the rules.

"I'm Lilly, this is Miley," Lilly said, she had now let go of Miley's arm.

"Hi," Miley said.

"Hey," the other guy said, nodding at both of them, "I'm Steven."

After greetings had been exchanged, Miley began conversation with Steven and moved off to the side with him, leaving Lilly to talk to Daniel.

"So," Lilly began, "You skate?"

"Yeah, I love it," Daniel said, his eyes slightly lighting up at the chosen topic.

"Any good?" Lilly asked him, smiling.

"I'm alright, I enter a lot of tournaments and stuff, but I've yet to actually win first in one."

"Yeah, me neither."

"You skate?" he questioned, surprised.

"Since I could walk," Lilly responded happily.

"Wow, you don't really look like the type," he commented, then quickly added, "No offense."

"None taken," she said, "Actually, this is kind of... a special occasion I guess you'd say. I never dress like this normally."

"Did you just graduate, too?"

"Um, no..." Lilly said, and spotting Jackson out of the corner of her eye, shifted so he wouldn't notice she was there yet.

Daniel looked a little confused now, "So why's it a special occasion, then?"

"Um... no reason, just... you know..." Lilly said, trying to come up with a good excuse but failing. "Hey, you want to dance?" she said quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Uh, sure," Daniel replied and followed her lead to the area where everyone was dancing.

Lilly had seen where Jackson had gone, he was now standing just at the edge of where the dancing was going on talking to Cooper. So when they reached the "dance floor" Lilly strategically placed herself where Jackson might see her.

She grabbed Daniel's hand and he smiled at her. "Let me just warn you, I'm not really the best dancer," he said, a little bit shyly.

Lilly laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not either."

Their dancing started out a little awkwardly at first, but both eventually found their rhythm. They were laughing and really having a great time when Lilly suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Lilly?"

She quickly spun around to find herself face-to-face with Jackson.

She smiled a slightly faltering smile, "Hi Jackson."

"What are you-" he noticed Daniel standing there next to them, "Uh... sorry, could you give us just a minute?"

Daniel gave Lilly a questioning look to which she nodded. "Catch you later," he said, and walked off.

"Why are you here?" Jackson now said.

"To have fun?" Lilly said, being a little silly.

He looked her over, noticing the short skirt, and the slightly revealing top she was wearing, "What- what are you wearing?"

"Clothes," Lilly shrugged, and smiled at him. She was feeling pretty empowered by her ability to snag Daniel as she had. Noticing that the DJ had now put on a slower song, she smiled again.

"Dance with me, Jackson!" she said and grabbed both of his hands.

Jackson, clearly taken aback by the whole situation, hesitated a moment before placing his arms around Lilly's waist.

Lilly felt a chill up her spine when she felt his hands touch her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared up into his eyes. "There's something I really think we need to discuss." she said slowly and moved just a little closer as they started to sway to the music.

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**A/N: **Sooo... there's about 1 chapter left. We'll see what goes down. Poor Daniel, getting all sent off like that. He was such a nice guy, haha. Um... so yeah, review. That'd be good... Tell me if you liked this chapter, or if it was no good. This one took me a while to write... and for the first time I didn't just sit down and write it in a couple of hours. Weirddd. I think this will be the first story I've ever actually finished. How exciting! Um, yup. Review! Then... you can all have the final chapter. Which may or may not be posted Saturday... depending on how much I work.


	10. Part Ten

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**Goodnight and Go **- Part Ten

Written by: Amalea

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Jackson's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked down at Lilly as they danced and with some hesitation asked, "Like what?"

Lilly pursed her lips and her face looked thoughtful for a moment, "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"What?"

"Do you want to go somewhere else? Like... to talk? Not for a long time or anything, I don't want you to miss the party," she said.

"Uh... sure," Jackson said and glanced around the party for a second looking for a place they could go, "Come on."

Placing his hand gently on Lilly's back he walked her through the crowd and out further onto the beach. They walked together in an awkward silence until they had gotten a good distance from the party. When they were far enough away, Lilly carefully sat down on the sand and looked out at the ocean. Following her lead, Jackson took a seat next to her and ran a hand through his hair.

"So what's this about?" he asked curiously, then realizing something he quickly added, "Actually, maybe you should explain why you're here first. You know this is a senior graduation party. Oh, then perhaps you could also explain why you're dressed like that?"

Lilly was a little taken aback by this sudden "older brother" attitude he had taken on, "Well... that could probably all be answered with one thing. Although, my being here and the clothes could mostly be blamed on your sister." She played with the hem of her skirt self-consciously before asking what had been on her mind all night, "Do I look that ridiculous?"

Jackson's face softened, "No, you don't look ridiculous. You look gorgeous... it's just... not you."

Lilly looked up at him and kind of grinned, noticing in the dim light that his cheeks had become pink upon realizing what he said. "I know."

"So why are you dressed like that then? You can't possibly be comfortable. Lilly Truscott, rock and roll, jeans, shirts, and hats. What's with the tiny skirt?"

Lilly seized the opportunity, boldly, "To impress you."

"Me?" Jackson questioned then remembering something a little bitterly, "Are you sure it wasn't to impress that skater boy I saw you with?"

Now it was Lilly's turn to blush. She remembered Daniel and suddenly felt bad; after all, she had kind of used him. "No, he was just a friend, I guess."

"Oh, just a friend?" Jackson said, "I think he had a thing for you. You guys looked like you were having a good time and he seemed awfully sad when I broke in on your dance session."

"Really?" Lilly said, a little intrigued by the prospect of Daniel liking her and guilty for hurting his feelings at the same time.

"Yeah," Jackson continued jokingly, but something along the lines of jealousy came out with his words, "maybe you should go find him and you guys can talk."

"Oh, no, Jackson really, I had just met him when Miley and I got here. The only reason I danced with him was so you'd notice me," the words slipped out of Lilly's mouth quickly.

"Notice you?" Jackson laughed now, "You shamelessly flirt with boys in an attempt to get me to notice you? Do you want to know something, Lilly Truscott?"

"Yes," she said frankly.

Jackson smiled, "You're noticed. You don't need the make-up, the short skirts, any of that stuff. You're perfectly fine without it."

"Do you like me, Jackson?" Lilly said suddenly.

Jackson rubbed his face with both hands and looked out at the ocean for some time before looking back at her, "Oh, Lilly, what do you think?"

"You do. I know you do, and I also know you know that I like you, so why won't you just say it?"

"I think maybe it's more complicated than that Lilly," Jackson said softly.

"But that's the thing, Jackson, it's not complicated at all. So I'm your little sister's best friend, so you're going to college next year, so WHAT? I don't care about any of that and you shouldn't either," Lilly shifted as she spoke so that she was now sitting on her knees facing him, "Jackson, you're the one of the greatest people I've ever met. Do you know that? You're absolutely amazing. You're nice, you're funny, you're smart. Whenever I'm around you I just feel like something is right, you know? I don't know what it is, I'm just comfortable around you. I feel like you understand me, like we're on the same wavelength. Can you tell me you don't feel like that? That you don't think that maybe there would be something absolutely perfect about us being together? I meant what I said in that note you found, Jackson. Every single word..."

Lilly suddenly felt Jackson's mouth on hers. It was her first kiss. She was a little uncertain and, yes, it was a little awkward at first, but somehow nice. So very nice.

Jackson pulled his lips away, but remained close to her. His face was just inches from hers and they both grinned at eachother goofily, "I think you're right Lilly Truscott. We'd be a perfect couple."

"Took you long enough..."

"Oh, I'm a guy, we're not so bright sometimes. Forgive me?" Jackson asked and put on a pathetically sad puppy dog face.

Lilly couldn't resist, she leaned forward giving him a quick peck on the lips, "Forgiven."

Jackson's face broke out into a huge grin and he stood up, "Well, shall we go back to the party then, m'lady?"

"Do we have to?" she asked, really just wanting to spend time with Jackson.

"Of course. I've got to show you off before I never see these people again!" Jackson said with mock audacity. He wrapped his arms around Lilly, "Plus I need to make sure that sister of mine hasn't gotten herself into any trouble. There are too many boys at that party."

"You're probably too late for that," Lilly said with a shrug.

They both laughed and with hands entwined, headed back to the party.

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**A/N: **Wow, it's been a while. In case you were wondering: school sucks, work takes up most of my time, and I've had some crazy cold. Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter out. I hope you guys liked it, I feel like I'm out of my writing zone. But yeah, that's it... please please please review. It's way more important than ever before. Last chance! haha. Thanks a bunch for all of your support on this, you guys are great.


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